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The Houston Public Library  welcomes Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson, the author of National Book Critics Circle Award winner The Warmth of Other Suns, on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 6:30 pm for an exclusive virtual discussion of her new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Examining the ties between the American caste system and those in India and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson points to ways America can move beyond our artificial and destructive human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity. A gifted storyteller, Wilkerson captivates audiences with the universal human story of migration and reinvention, as well as the enduring search for the American dream.

The presentation will also include special guests, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Library Director Dr. Rhea Brown Lawson, and Rice University’s Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Dr. Alexander Byrd, who will engage in a conversation with Ms. Wilkerson immediately following her presentation. The link to register for the presentation can be found here under "Events"

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Specials

The community is invited to join this free program being presented on Zoom. Registration with a valid email address is required. Limited spots are available. A confirmation message will be automatically sent. A second email will be sent within 24 hours prior to the start of the event with the information to access by computer, tablet, or phone. The live viewing cannot be guaranteed if links are shared with non-registered attendees. Please note that a recording of the program will NOT be made available. Registration is required, or if necessary, join the wait-list.
 
Readers everywhere who wish to purchase copies of Caste can do so from community bookstore partner, Blue Willow Bookshop or search for the book in HPL's catalog at this link. 
 
Beautifully written, original, and revealing, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an eye-opening story of people and history, and a reexamination of what lies under the surface of ordinary lives and of American life today. Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and the nation’s fate. Using riveting stories about people—including Martin Luther King, Jr., baseball’s Satchel Paige, a single father and his toddler son, Wilkerson herself, and many others—she shows the ways that the insidious undertow of caste is experienced every day. Wilkerson points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity.

Wilkerson is the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Journalism and the first African American to win for individual reporting. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal for "her masterful combination of intimate human narratives with broader societal trends" and for "championing an unsung history."

She has taught at Princeton, Emory, and Boston Universities and has lectured at more than two hundred other colleges and universities across the United States and in Europe and Asia.